CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Aubin Stremler, a volunteeer at the Urban Garden Center, recently took a group of Soto Academy second-graders through a tour of the garden. "I thought the kids would not be that interested in plants," said their teacher, Eileen Jackson. "I loved the hands-on activities and how he explained things to them."

Gardening is in his roots

Aubin Stremler puts his love of plants into his volunteer work

Aubin Stremler learned to love the outdoors, and plants in particular, at a young age. Raised on a small dairy farm in Washington state, he helped his family maintained a massive vegetable garden. "We grew everything, and we did a full-scale canning for the winter."

Need advice?

Experts at the Urban Garden Center's Master Gardeners Help Line take questions:

» Call: 453-6055

» Hours: 9 a.m. to noon weekdays

Common question

Many callers are confused about the differences between compost and mulch. "Compost is decayed vegetable matter and looks like dirt," says volunteer Aubin Stremler. "Mulch is chopped up green waste that has not yet decayed. Mulch should never be mixed with soil because it will rob the soil of all nutrients."

Coming Up

» Annual Plant & Produce Sale: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 2

» Place: Urban Garden Center, 955 Kamehameha Highway

» Call: 453-6050

Although he had five other siblings, Stremler was the one with the green thumb. "I was always the one taking care of the flowers, the window boxes."

Stremler left the farm to earn his degree in education and began teaching abroad in Germany, Morocco and mostly Japan. But after retiring nine years ago, his move to Hawaii rekindled his love of gardening.

He began in his own Pearlridge neighborhood but soon started working at the Urban Garden Center, where he has become one of the center's most dedicated and versatile volunteers.

His duties have accumulated over the years to include weekly tours for schoolchildren, plant propagation and answering plant-care questions as one of the master gardeners working the center's help line. You might even find him at the Plant Doctor booth at Kapiolani Community College's Farmer's Market on the last Saturday of the month.

Friends and neighbors directed Stremler to Pearl City's Urban Garden after admiring his handiwork in his townhouse area.

Stremler says he was fed up with all the exposed red dirt in common areas throughout the neighborhood, so he went to work creating gardens filled with a variety of plants and small trees. "I decided to get my hands dirty," he said. "I couldn't stand it. It really did spruce up the neighborhood."

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Aubin Stremler, a volunteeer at the Urban Garden Center, recently took a group of Soto Academy second-graders through a tour of the garden.

Stremler enjoys mixing textures and colors of plant life. "For example, ferns are airy. I love putting different types of leaves together." Since flowers have shorter life spans, he prefers to incorporate plants with varying leaf colors, including reds that will last throughout the year.

He began volunteering at the Urban Garden Center eight years ago and became a docent at Lyon Arboretum about a year ago.

"What I enjoy most is the plant propagation," he said. The Urban Garden raises about 2,600 plants for Hawaiian Electric Co.'s Arbor Day plant giveaways. "We distribute a variety of plants at different sites, and we are doing lots more with native Hawaiian plants."

Stremler also helps prepare for the center's biannual plant sale. "The plants are always sold below the market price. We want to encourage people to grow various things."

Although he works many volunteer hours each week, Stremler is still able to travel, making annual trips to Europe. But even on vacation, plants are on his mind.